Chemistry
by Momo Taishou
Summary: A new case may prove difficult as one of NCIS's own is involved. McAbby, Tiva, Jibbs
1. Introduction

The soft sound of paper hitting wood could barely be heard as Tony DiNozzo threw yet another small airplane. He had been creating various projectiles from paper for what seemed like hours, and he had yet to hit his target: Ziva David. With no case to investigate and no files to write, Tony had quickly succumbed to boredom and began folding the blank paper from the printer into tiny paper airplanes and throwing stars. His throws continued to just barely miss Ziva, and Tony found it disappointing that he was not being annoying enough to get a response out of her. He picked up one of his very well-made airplanes and was poised to throw it…"Tony."… when a voice threw off his concentration, causing his airplane to soar way above Ziva.

He turned to face Timothy McGee, the source of the voice. "Way to go, Probie. That one could've been the lucky shot!"

"You know, you're wasting a lot of paper. Twelve cents a page, a lot of trees."

"Thanks for the warning, McGreen."

A ding was heard as the elevator doors opened, and L.J. Gibbs stepped out. Tony quickly stuffed his paper airplanes in a drawer and pretended to be busy working.

"Gear up, we've got a case." barked Gibbs to the team, who quickly grabbed their backpacks and followed him back into the elevator. Tony walked into the elevator last and the doors closed as he turned to face them. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and turned around. "What was that for?" he whined to his boss.

"Throwing paper airplanes at Ziva." Gibbs coolly replied.

Tony muttered a 'sorry, boss' and remained quiet for the rest of the elevator ride, much to the amusement of Ziva, who stood next to him. Soon, the elevator had reached to garage and the team was on their way to their latest crime scene.

* * *

Yeah, it was short, but it's just the intro! I know exactly where this story is going, and I promise I will write longer chapters!


	2. The Scene

Tony stepped out of the passenger seat of the car, walking unsteadily and feigning sickness. Ziva just shut the driver's side door and glared at him playfully, knowing he was just teasing her. Gibbs and McGee had driven behind them, and were just getting out of their car. The team walked over to their crime scene, a middle-class blue house with a perfect yard, and ducking under the crime scene tape, made their way inside to get the information from the police who had arrived first.

Gibbs walked up to a large, gruff-looking officer who was obviously the man in charge as he was confidently barking orders to the other officers at the scene. The officer noticed Gibbs walking toward him and loudly said, "Aha! You must be NCIS! I'm Brad Thompson", spitting as he spoke.

"What happened here?" asked Gibbs in a voice that made even the haughty Officer Thompson sober up and comply.

"Well, the next door neighbors heard screaming and called 911. We got here a few minutes later and found the woman who lives here lying dead in the living room. Looks like she was stabbed to death."

Gibbs turned to walk away. "We'll let our medical examiner figure that out."

* * *

Ducky approached the site where he was told he would find the body and found Ziva taking pictures while Tony collected evidence.

"Good morning, you two!" He cheerfully said as he bent down to take a look at the body. "Now, what have we here?" He stuck a liver probe into the body to check its temperature.

Gibbs walked up behind Ducky just as he pulled out the probe, and asked how long ago the woman had died. Ducky looked up at his long-time friend and told him, "About two hours ago, Jethro. However, I will know more once I get her to the morgue." Gibbs walked away as Ducky turned to find his assistant. "Mister Palmer, we are in here!" he exclaimed when he noticed Palmer walking around, looking quite lost.

"Oh, sorry Doctor Mallard. Nobody would tell me where to find the body!"

"That is quite alright Mister Palmer, now could you please fetch the gurney? And please do not get lost this time."

Ziva saw Palmer run out the door to get the gurney and noticed a piece of paper stuck to the top of the door frame. She stood on her toes to retrieve it, pulling it off the wood where it was attached by a piece of chewed gum. She unfolded the paper, but became frustrated that she could not understand the message written on it. Slipping it and the gum into evidence bags, she went on her way to find Gibbs and show the note to him.

* * *

A few hours later, Ziva was on the phone attempting to retrieve the woman's medical records, whileTony sifted through information on his computer. Gibbs walked into the bullpen and immediately Tony stood up.

"What've you got?" asked Gibbs in a voice that sounded more like a command than a question.

"Well boss, the victim's name is Monica Hanson. Her husband, Garret Hanson, is a marine and was in Florida when she was killed."

"There is nothing outstanding about her, she has a perfect record, no medical problems, and her neighbors say she and her husband were both very pleasant people." Ziva piped in.

"Well, she was murdered for some reason, so find it!" barked Gibbs as he made his way toward the elevator. He took the elevator to autopsy and walked in to find Ducky staring intently at an X-Ray on the wall. He moved to stand next to him and looked at the image, trying to figure out why it was so interesting that Ducky did not even look away from it to acknowledge his presence. Finally Ducky did look away with a frustrated sigh, and turned to face his old friend.

"What have you found, Duck?"

"Well, for starters, this poor woman's time of death was earlier than I had originally determined. She was killed around four o'clock in the morning, and I am ashamed that I was so far off, but it is because her body seems to have been stored in ice until about an hour before she was found."

"That it?"

"Oh heavens no, Jethro. I am just getting started! There is much more to tell. For example, even though it may look it, this woman was not stabbed to death. Why, it reminds me of a time when I was brought a headless body, and the police were sure-"

"Duck!"

"Oh, right. Well, every stab wound was inflicted post-mortem, but I cannot figure out what really did kill her! I have been looking at her X-Rays, and there is a strange tear in her bone that her medical records do not account for, however I cannot determine its cause!"

"Hey! Gibbs!" the webcam Abby used to connect her lab with Ducky's lit up and both men turned toward it. "I've got something! C'mon! And don't forget the Caff-Pow, please." The screen once again went black.

Gibbs took one last look at the X-Ray before exiting the morgue, heading up toward Abby's lab where she would be busy processing evidence with the help of Special Agent McGee.

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me again…Ah! I must tell you the story of the headless body I received. The case slightly resembles your own, and I think you will enjoy it. I was brought a headless body, and the police were sure the woman who's body I had received was poisoned, and that the poison had caused her demise…"


	3. Equations

McGee stepped into Abby's lab and set the evidence box on the only counter that was not already taken by machinery. Abby spun her seat around from where she was lazily playing solitaire, and jumped into McGee's arms, causing him to stumble backward into the counter.

"Oh, yay! Finally something to do! What do you need me to process?"

"Well, we have- ouch, Abby, that hurts. Okay, we have some fingerprints to run," he handed her three bags, each containing a broken glass that had been found near the body, and she started up the AFIS program, letting it identify the fingerprints while she turned back to the rest of the evidence.

"We also found a note at the scene," he handed her the folded up piece of paper that Ziva had found; "It should have some prints on it, but Boss wants us to figure out what the message on it means first."

"Alright, piece of cake! We are an amazing code-breaking team!" Abby stated enthusiastically, holding up the note in her proud pose. She opened the note so she and McGee could begin their task of decoding it:

'Iodine Tungsten + Iodine + (Lithium – Iodine) + (Lithium-Iodine) Potassium +Iodine + (Lithium – Iodine) + (Lithium-Iodine) Hydrogen + Erbium'

"Elements? That's weird. It looks like some sort of chemical equation." muttered Abby, to both herself and McGee.

"Yeah, but it doesn't look like any equations I know…"

"Hmm…I don't recognize it either. It looks like it could be a few equations strung together. I'll run it through a database of chemical compounds and see what it comes up with."

A few hours passed, and Abby had been pushing the floor with her feet to propel her chair across the room from computer to computer, waiting for results. So far, only one fingerprint had been identified from the three broken glasses, and that was it. The familiar beeping that signaled a fingerprint match on the AFIS program finally sounded, exiting Abby. She pushed her feet off the cabinet to send her rolling back to the other side of the room and looked at the screen, McGee right behind her. On the screen was the profile of Petty Officer Garret Hanson.

"I'll call Gibbs," Abby said, happy that she had at least finished one of the analyses.

"Hey! Gibbs!" Abby said into the webcam that connected her to Ducky's lab, "I've got something! C'mon! And don't forget the Caff-Pow, please." she said with a smile before turning her camera off.

Gibbs stepped into Abby's lab a few minutes later, Caff-Pow in hand, and gave her and McGee a questioning look. Abby quickly snatched the Caff-Pow from Gibbs and took a long sip before telling him what she and McGee had found.

"I ran the cups from the crime scene through AFIS and found two different sets of prints. One was from Mrs. Hanson, and the other was from her husband. I think the husband's were planted, though, because it looks to me like they've been on the glass for a week, while Mrs. Hanson's prints are very recent…"Abby trailed off.

"Good work Abby. Did you figure out that note yet?"

Abby shifted her feet. "No…not yet. But we'll have it in no time!" By the time Abby had finished her sentence, Gibbs had already left the room. She looked over at McGee and said, "I hate it when he does that!"

* * *

Gibbs walked into the bullpen and looked over at Ziva's desk, where Tony was standing and talking to her. He was happy to get rid of rule twelve when Tony finally worked up the guts to tell Ziva how he felt about her, but he really got annoyed when they began to forget about work and start thinking more about each other toward the end of each day. Sometimes, he just had to set them straight.

"Hey! DiNozzo, David! Go get the husband and bring him in for questioning."

Tony turned around, looking guilty, while Ziva looked up and smirked.

"Go!"

Tony ran to his desk to grab his badge and gun, and then sprinted to catch up with Ziva who was already inside the elevator. The doors closed and Gibbs looked away from them, up to the balcony, where he saw Director Sheppard looking back at him. She smiled and walked back to her office, knowing his eyes were following her the whole way. Once she disappeared into her office, Gibbs sat at his desk and began searching for information that could help bring their latest victim some justice.

* * *

Yup, Tony and Ziva are together in this fic. Eventually I will write a little one-shot about them getting together a few months before this fic takes place. And wow! I even squeezed in a little Jibbs! McAbby's coming soon, so don't worry.


	4. Realizations and Messages

The elevator doors opened, allowing Tony and Ziva to step into the garage. Tony picked up the keys and held them up, above Ziva's immediate reach, claiming the driver's seat. After a few minutes of light-hearted argument, Ziva slid into the passenger's seat and watched Tony enter the car on the driver's side. He put the keys into the ignition and the two started on their way to the Hanson residence. The first few minutes of the ride were quiet, but not awkward. Still, silence and Tony just do not mix, and if the whole forty-five minute ride was silent, he would go crazy.

"So, Ziva…what do you think?"

"What?"

"About the case!"

"Oh. Well, I think if Gibbs catches us slacking off again, we will both be bread!"

"Okay, that was horrible, Ziva. Even _you_ have to have known that the word is toast, not bread. Bread just doesn't make any sense!"

"Sorry, my mistake. They are pretty much the same thing. Do not have a horse!"

"Cow, Ziva! Cow! Not horse."

"Alright, COW! Better?"

"Much. But I can't believe you're still messing up these phrases! They're so obvious! Especially if you live in America, which you do."

"Well, I am sorry if I cannot assimilate quickly enough for you!" Ziva huffed, now annoyed with her partner and lover.

There was a silence, an awkward one this time, lasting fifteen minutes until finally Tony gave in. "Ziva, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you with what I said. And I think it's cute how you mess up little phrases like that. Plus, it could have been worse; you could have said something like waffles instead of bread!"

Ziva stared at him, feeling a strange mixture of love, shock, and a desire to just burst into laughter. After all, it wasn't every day that Tony DiNozzo apologized _and_ complemented someone in the same sentence.

"Thank you Tony. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Both Tony and Ziva just said them, those three words, without even thinking. Neither had said it to the other before, and both were surprised at how easily they came out. Tony pulled the car into the driveway of the Hanson's home and looked over at Ziva, who was already looking at him. He smiled and leaned over to kiss her, then opened his car door and rushed over to the passenger's side to open hers.

"How chivalrous…" Ziva said with a small laugh.

Tony smiled and in a fake British accent, bragged, "But of course, madam! I am nothing but chivalrous!" causing Ziva to snort in laughter. Tony put on a look of hurt and despair, but of course Ziva saw right through the charade and as she finished laughing, started on the walkway to the house's front door. Tony caught up to her just as she rang the doorbell.

"I really do love you, you know."

Ziva looked up at him and smiled. "And I really do love you, too, my little hairy butt."

Tony was about to hurl a playful comeback to her calling him by the nickname that she had given him when they were undercover, but before he had the chance, Petty Officer Hanson answered the door.

"Hi, can I help you?" he asked, looking and sounding tired and distraught.

"I'm Special Agent DiNozzo, and this is Officer David; NCIS."

"Oh, you're the ones investigating Monica's murder." He asked, though it was more of a statement than a question. "I talked to one of your coworkers, Agent McGee, already."

"I know, but we have a few more things to clarify, if you wouldn't mind coming with us."

Hanson glanced back inside before stepping out of his house and closing the door behind him. The ride to NCIS was silent, and Petty Officer Hanson did not notice the looks that the two federal agents in the front seats were exchanging the whole way back.

Soon, the car pulled into the NCIS garage and Tony, Ziva, and Hanson were on their way to one of the conference rooms. Tony and Ziva stood outside the room, waiting for Gibbs to come and talk to Hanson.

"Do you think he's a suspect? I thought he had an alibi!"

"He does, Tony. But his prints were found at the scene."

"But he was in the Everglades! That's not exactly close to D.C.."

"Perhaps the murderer's real aim was to frame Hanson for his wife's murder, so they planted his prints at the scene. If Gibbs really suspected Hanson, he would be in an interrogation room right now."

"Maybe." inserted Gibbs as he walked past the two agents into the conference room. "Go check on Abby and McGee, then find me some suspects!"

Tony and Ziva started on their way down the hall and into the elevator. Once the doors closed, Ziva reached over and hit the emergency shut-off switch. Tony threw her a questioning glance, but had no time to ask what she was doing before she pinned him against the elevator wall. Next thing he knew, the two of them were locked in a furious kiss. Their hands started roaming under clothes, but before they could get any further, Ziva pulled away and hit the button to turn the elevator back on.

"Aw, c'mon Ziva!"

"There will be plenty of time for that tonight."

Tony put on one of his famous smirks. "Really?"

The conversation, however, could not be continued as the two stepped into Abby's lab. Abby was pacing, very quickly, around the room. McGee was staring intently and confusedly at a computer screen. There were at least ten large Caff-Pows scattered about the room. Tony stepped into Abby's path and reached out a hand to stop her pacing. She continued to walk, though in place now as Tony's hand was holding her by the forehead, preventing her from moving forward. Soon, she snapped out of her dream world and noticed Tony in front of her.

"Oh! Hey Tony."

"How're you two doing up here?"

"Not good! The computer couldn't match the elements to any plausible compound!"

McGee finally stopped staring down the computer, "It would help if we knew the ratio of each chemical to the others, then we could make a real equation."

"Well," Abby thought aloud, "Maybe we can assume that they're all one because it doesn't say. That's how formulas work…"

"True, but should we assume brincklehoff?"

By this time, Tony and Ziva were completely lost.

"Okay, hold up, Probie. What's a brincklehoff?"

"Br I N Cl H O F, Bromine Iodine Nitrogen Chlorine Hydrogen Oxygen Fluorine. They're the elements that when standing alone are always double the mass. It's an acronym."

"That's it!" shrieked Abby.

She ran over to the computer whose screen the note was projected on. "Okay. Just like BrINClHOF, use the chemical symbol of each element on the note to make a word! Iodine is I, Tungsten is W-"

"But what about the Lithium and Iodine in parentheses?"

"Lithium minus Iodine…I've got it! Li – I! The letter L! So do that twice…then Potassium is K, Iodine again, then two more L's, and then H for Hydrogen, and Erbium is Er."

"I W I L L K I L L H E R: I will kill her…"

"Well that's not good…"

"What's not good, Abbs?"

"Gibbs! We figured the note out! It says 'I will kill her.'"

Gibbs gave the team a very stern look, the one that always freaks them out a little, causing McGee to pipe up "I guess that means the killer's after someone else."

"Ya think?" Gibbs stormed out of the lab, followed by Ziva, Tony, and McGee who waved goodbye to Abby on his way out.

The team got back to the bullpen and immediately sat at their desks. Gibbs assigned a task to each of them; he was more determined than before now that he knew another life was at stake. Not five minutes had gone by since the team had started working when Gibbs's phone rang. He answered it and did not even bother to respond to the caller's message, quickly hanging up the phone before the caller had even finished speaking. He was already on his way to the elevator when he called, "We've got another body, you guys coming?"

The team rushed to gather their gear and followed him into the elevator.

* * *

Yay! More Tiva! I promise some Jibbs soon, and don't worry, I know exactly how the McAbby's gonna happen. Don't you just love my Chem nerdliness?


	5. Body Number Two

The camera flashed as Ziva took a picture of the woman that lay mutilated on the carpet of the high-end home. The woman's arms were striped with cuts, her legs covered in blood, and her face twisted into an expression of terror. It was obvious there had been a struggle, as blood could be found around the room and much of the furniture was turned over.

"The poor woman…" lamented Ducky as he approached the body, Palmer in tow.

Ziva made her way out of the room to photograph the rest of the house, leaving Ducky and Palmer to their work. Upon entering the dining room, she found Tony bent over, apparently trying –and not succeeding- to move the china cupboard. Ziva set her camera on the table in front of her and joined Tony in pushing the cupboard. Soon, it had been cleared out of the way for whatever reason Tony wanted and Ziva was making fun of him for not being strong enough to move it himself.

"Why did you want to move this?"

"I smelled something funny, and there's a vent under it so I thought I'd check it out and see what the smell is."

"Well, at least your nose is better than your arms. I smell it now."

"You know, I could've easily moved it on my own, Ziva."

"Oh yes, you were definitely making great progress alone." She replied sarcastically. "You really need to work out, build up your muscles, Tony."

"Well," he began, leaning in close to Ziva's ear, "At least I have some damn good stamina, as you know."

Ziva leaned closer to him, "But mine is better. As you know." and walked away, into the next room, before Tony could reply.

Tony tried to brush off Ziva's last comment as he leaned down to look inside the vent he had gained access to by moving the cupboard. He pulled out the screws and pried the cover off of the wall. Taking out his flashlight and shining it into the dark vent, he could vaguely make out a faint red color, which he assumed to be blood, and a small white object half covered in it. He slid onto his stomach to better see what was in the vent, and then hit his head as he jumped back in surprise and disgust.

"Boss! I found something _really _important!"

Gibbs walked into the room, followed by McGee and Ziva, and Tony stood up. He motioned for someone to take a look in the vent, so Ziva stepped forward and grabbed Tony's flashlight, then bent down to look inside the vent. The thought that Tony was probably admiring her butt at that moment crossed her mind, and she smiled to herself, but the smile was quickly gone as she saw what Tony had found in the vent.

"The body in the living room is perfectly intact, yes?"

McGee nodded.

"Then this is definitely a problem."

Gibbs grabbed the flashlight and shined it into the vent. "Duck! Get in here!"

Ducky came strolling into the room, not the least bit threatened by the tone of voice Gibbs had used to call him, but well aware that it meant something was wrong.

"What is the matter, Jethro?"

"Take a look." Gibbs handed Ducky the flashlight.

After shining it into the vent at many different angles and observing all there was to observe, Ducky pulled away. "Oh my. That certainly is not good."

McGee was still in the dark as to what was causing his coworkers' confusion so he took out his own flashlight to look inside the vent, and what he saw made his stomach drop. Ten fingers, all in a row, taped to the top of the vent; dripping blood all over a piece of paper that sat underneath them. He pulled back to let Ducky retrieve them so he may identify who they belong to. He and the rest of the team walked out of the room to continue processing the scene.

"This would certainly be a lot easier if our lady friend in the next room was missing her fingers." said Ducky, more to himself than Palmer who kneeled next to him.

Before Palmer replied with one of his unintentionally disturbing comments, Ziva walked back into the room.

"Ducky, Gibbs wants me to bag that paper in the vent."

Ducky nodded and reached into the vent once more to retrieve the paper, then handed it to Ziva, who slipped it into an evidence bag, and left after thanking him.

Ziva took the note to Gibbs, who removed it from the bag to read it. Ziva looked over his shoulder to read it, and the other two soon came up behind him to do the same.

'Congratulations, NCIS. You managed to find this. I'm almost impressed. However, I do wonder if you've decoded my other note yet. Perhaps my next message will tell you more of what you really want to know.'

"He's gonna kill again," stated DiNozzo, quite obviously.

"Well, if the _fingers_ are any indication, he probably already did."

* * *

Gibbs and Ziva walked through the glass door into Abby's lab, each carrying a box of evidence from the latest scene.

"Gibbs! Ziva! What've you got for me?"

Gibbs set his box down on the counter, and rather than answering Abby's somewhat-rhetorical question, asked her one: "Did you run the prints on that note?"

Abby put on her sweetest puppy-eyed face before answering, "I would've, but there were no prints to run…"

Gibbs told her to process the new note first, before starting anything else. Then he walked out of the lab, followed by Ziva.

To herself, Abby muttered, "Damn. That face always works on _McGee_!" before picking up the bag containing the new note.

A few minutes later the door to the lab opened and Abby was surprised to see Director Sheppard step in.

"Hi Director! What are you doing here?"

"Abby, please, just call me Jenny."

"Okay, Jenny it is!"

One of Abby's various machines started beeping and Abby ran over to it, then let out a disappointed grunt as she hit a button on it and walked back to where the Director was standing. In response to the directors questioning look, she said "I've been processing evidence all morning, but now it's all running through the computers, so I have nothing to do until something finishes."

"Well, you can talk to me, then. I actually came down here to ask you some questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"Well…gossip, I suppose."

"Ooh! I know all the good scuttlebutt around here."

Jenny smiled, "That's exactly why I came to you."

"What do you need to know?"

"Tony and Ziva."

"What a mouthful. I could talk about them for hours."

"Well, it's not exactly them I wanted to talk about. It's Gibbs."

"Oh…gossip about the boss-man. I'm in!"

"I figured. So, how is he taking Tony and Ziva's relationship?"

"Let's just say it is my opinion that rule number twelve no longer stands."

"Hmm…it's always been a pretty flimsy rule…" reminisced Jenny.

Abby leaned in further and asked excitedly, "Really? Tell me about it!"

"Oh no, we are not going into that."

"Aww...c'mon…I wanna hear about you and Gibbs!"

"No, Abby. The past is between me and him."

"Then talk about the present!"

"There's nothing to talk about." Jenny said hesitantly.

"Oh come _on_! I see the way you guys look at each other!"

"Abby, there is definitely no-"

"There _is_!"

"Well, maybe..."

"I knew it!"

"There's nothing going on, per say…"

"But you still love him."

"…Yeah."

"Yes!!" Abby spun around in the chair she had been sitting in, but stopped abruptly as one of her machines beeped again. She quickly ran over to it and let out an extremely loud 'YESS!!' in her joy.

"Well, I'll just leave you to your machines, then."

"Hey! He loves you too, you know!" called Abby as Jenny, who turned to acknowledge her, walked out the door.

* * *

Back in the bullpen, the team was looking up information on the latest victim. So far, they had found she was a 29 year old Petty Officer named Sue Whitney. She had recently divorced her husband and received much of his money, allowing her to live in such a large house. She had no children, to Gibbs's relief, and the people around her did not seem to think of her in any way but neutrally. The team was looking at her profile up on the big screen when Ducky came walking in.

"Abby and I have identified the owner of the fingers found at the scene."

Gibbs looked up, waiting for more, very impatiently by the look in his eyes.

"They belong to Gloria Rykovitch, a sixteen year old girl. Her records show she was kidnapped two weeks ago."

"Damn it…" growled Gibbs, getting up from his desk. "DiNozzo! David! Go talk to the people who knew her, get information so we can find her. McGee, use your internet hacking stuff to find out more about her."

Tony and Ziva picked up their bags and boarded the elevator while Gibbs went with Ducky to his lab and McGee sat at his desk trying to figure out what Gibbs meant by 'internet hacking stuff'.

* * *

A bit more Tiva, and Jibbs! Yay!


	6. Driving, Riding, and More

Tony was driving, and Ziva was not, leaving Tony happy that he would not have to worry about dying for the time being. Ziva sat next to him, annoyed that she could not drive, and thinking of ways to get revenge upon her lover. She soon thought of a brilliant plan, and set about putting it into action. First, she set her hand on top of Tony's upper leg. He smiled, seeing it as an innocent gesture from his girlfriend. She was glad that he did not seem to suspect her, and began to slowly slide her hand up and down his leg. He felt a shiver travel down his spine as she stroked his leg, but tried his hardest to remain focused on the road and not _other things_. She slipped her hand between his legs, still stroking, but in a slight different direction. Tony tried to ignore Ziva's temptation, which he had begun to think was revenge for not letting her drive, but it proved difficult and Ziva seemed to be getting her desired effect.

Tony pulled the car over to the side of the almost empty road and turned to Ziva, who pulled her hand away and sat in her seat, looking as innocent as a crazy ninja assassin could.

"Ziva…" Tony began in a warning voice.

"Yes, Tony?" said Ziva innocently.

The look on Tony's face in and in his eyes spoke for him, but of course Ziva had to achieve her goal before she would submit to it. She looked downward, then back up to Tony's face and said "You should probably take care of that before we talk to the missing girl's parents."

Tony just glared, the same look still in his eyes, but eventually broke down. "Fine, you can drive the rest of the way, okay? Now please…" he pleaded desperately, his voice sounding strained.

Ziva smiled and said nothing, but guided him to the back seat of the car.

* * *

Ziva drove this time, and Tony was hanging on for dear life as they pulled into the driveway of Gloria Rykovitch's parents' house. They got out of the car, walked up to the front door, and rang the doorbell. A short woman answered the door and greeted them.

"Mrs. Rykovitch?" aked Tony, flashing his badge.

"Yes. Is this about Gloria?"

"Yes it is, ma'am. May we come in?"

"Of course, come in."

The group went to sit in the living room and soon a man entered the room.

"This is my husband, Gloria's father."

"They're here about Gloria?" He asked before turning toward them, "Have you found her?"

"No, we are sorry sir. We just want to ask a few questions about her, to help us find her."

Tony and Ziva spoke to the parents for little over a half hour, but did not get much information. All they learned was Gloria had been on her way to school, and when she never arrived, they called the police. The parents referred the two agents to the school, saying Gloria's teachers and friends may be able to help, so Tony and Ziva soon found themselves walking through the doors of Mountain Valley high school.

They walked up to the office and showed their badges, requesting to speak with the principal. The office attendant led them through a door labeled 'Principal Young', and asked them to sit down while she went and informed the principal of her visitors.

A few minutes later the door opened and a tall woman with short, black hair walked in.

"Hello, I'm Kim Young, the principal here at Mountain Valley high. How can I help you two?"

"We are here to speak to the teachers of Gloria Rykovitch."

Principal Young's face shifted into a frown, "Okay. It's horrible, her being kidnapped. She was such a bright young lady. Here's her class schedule, she had six classes and two off hours, so you'll have six teachers to talk to. If you need directions to one of the rooms, just ask someone in the hallways, the students know their way around here."

Tony and Ziva moved to get up. "Thank you very much, Principal Young." They left the room, headed toward the first classroom on their list.

"So, first up, Spanish with Señora Oakley. Room two hundred."

The agents followed the hallways until they reached room two hundred, and opened the door. There were students, standing in a circle, singing the Hokie-Pokie in Spanish. Tony and Ziva just stared for a minute until the song and dance ended and the teacher walked up to them. Tony showed his badge and the short, kind-looking woman led them into the hallway.

"Is this about Gloria?"

Tony nodded and Ziva replied "Yes."

"Well, I'll do whatever I can to help. She was a wonderful student."

"Could you tell us about her?"

"Sure. She loved Spanish, and was very good at it. I don't know much about her close friends, but she got along well with everybody in the class. Other than that, there isn't much else besides being an average high school girl."

"Gracias." Replied Tony, attempting to impress Ziva with his knowledge of Spanish, but failing miserably as Ziva had a short conversation with the teacher in Spanish before letting her return to class.

"Come on, we still have five teachers to talk to."

* * *

Back at NCIS, McGee was pulling up background information on the kidnapped girl. He found the names of four suspects in the kidnapping. Two had been in jail at the time, one had been dead, and the fourth was now missing. Thinking it very possible that the missing man could have kidnapped the girl, McGee began doing a search on him. Jon Williams; aside from the kidnapping accusation, he had a squeaky clean record. He was in his thirties, tall, handsome, and apparently a very smart guy. As McGee hit the 'Print' button for the files, the phone beside him rang, causing him to jump slightly. He reached for the phone and picked it up, but when he answered there was no voice on the other end. After about ten seconds of calling 'Hello?' in hope that whoever called would respond, he hung up. A few seconds later, the phone rang again. Tim hesitated to answer it, but in the end decided it would probably be best, so he picked up the receiver once again.

"Timmy!!" was the loud call, rather than silence, that came from the other end this time.

"Abbs?"

"Yeah, sorry about my last call. I accidentally dropped the phone and it turned off when it hit the floor."

"That's okay. What's up?"

"I've been analyzing the handwriting of the notes, and running a whole bunch of evidence and I could really use some help down here."

Tim glanced at his computer, knowing that if he left his search to help Abby, Gibbs would probably head-slap him. "Okay. I'll be right down."

Tim set the computer to do some searching on related ties to the case, and just as he was about to head up to Abby's lab, the phone rang again. He thought it might be Abby wondering what was taking him so long, so he moved to answer it.

"Hello?" There was silence on the other end. "Abby?"

A few seconds passed and Tim was about to hang up when he heard a voice on the other end, "She is dead, but she can still tell you who my real target is. You will find her soon."

"What? Who are you? Who's dead?" Tim questioned, but soon realized the man on the other end had hung up.

McGee dialed Gibbs's number to tell him about the call, but as he pointed his finger to hit the final number, the phone started ringing again. He hit the receiver button to take the call, and this time it was the NCIS dispatch, telling him his team was to investigate a murder that may be related to their current case. Tim wrote down the information, noting that Gibbs would be extra irritable as the scene of the crime was a high school.

* * *

Don't you just love the title? So kinky!

Anyways, I think it's weird to write a story where a kid gets kidnapped and stuff, but I have a reason (albeit a strange one): My good buddy Ginny (who is the same age as 'Gloria') wanted me to model a murdered girl after her and make it kinda creepy. It's just her style. Plus, she wanted some school action because it's always funny inventing people who are just like my actual teachers. And let me say, Ginny is ecstatic about the next chapter. Ohh, there is also a hint of McAbby in it!


End file.
